Abstract
Regional studies are the main component of political geography. Rightly so, since the balance of political forces in a country—a balance which determines the foreign policy of that country and exerts influence on the world's political equiiibrium—depends on the balance of political forces in its various regions and centers. As for the objective base of regional political differences, it lies in geographical differences in social class struc tures. But the complicated correlations between the elements of spatial socioeconomic structures studied by political geography require the use of the systems dialectical- materialistic approach, which takes into account all the other essential factors partici pating in the formation of the territorial balance of political forces. The authors try to show the importance of this method, using as examples the cases of the FRG and of Italy. They propose a model of regional political-geographical categories that include (1) his torical-politico-geographical, (2) social-geographical, (3) general political-geographical, and (4) regional political-geographical elements.
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